Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A ministerial committee, set up to look into the armed forces' grievance about pay “anomalies”, is likely to sort out the matter soon.External affairs minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the three-member committee, today said he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and defence minister Mr AK Antony.“Shortly, I am going to discuss with the finance minister (P Chidambaram),” he told reporters here when asked about the issue.Without giving details of his discussions with the Prime Minister, Mr Mukherjee merely said: “I do hope we will be able to sort out the issue shortly”.The committee, which also includes Mr Antony and Mr Chidambaram, was set up by the Prime Minister on 25 September in the wake of deep resentment in the armed forces, who complained that there were “anomalies” in the 6th Pay Commission recommendations and that it had lowered the status of their officers.After the government notification was issued on 29 August, the issues of “anomalies” in the pay for officers was first raised by Air chief Fali Homi Major in his letter in his capacity as acting chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC).Chiefs of Navy and Army too have been voicing their resentment.Mr Antony has strongly favoured resolution of core issues raised by the three services chiefs in their representation to the government. He wrote to Mr Chidambaram, raising issues of disparities”, including the ones relating to Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBORs).